Sedum telephium Double Martini - Autumn Stonecrop

Sedum telephium 'Double Martini' has a range of highly contrasting colours. It bears olive-green foliage, dark red stems, and a flowering that offers numerous shades of pink through to burgundy. This flowering period can extend from August to October, welcoming autumn with its warm tones. The plant remains beautiful until late autumn. It comes alive during the last sunny days of the season with a perpetual ballet of butterflies. Its clump is rounded, with initially upright foliage, which then bends under the weight of the flowers. Its ornamental qualities and ease of cultivation make it one of the most accommodating perennials there is. It thrives in dry and poor soils and can survive in low-maintenance gardens.

Sedums are proof that poor soil can provide a home to beautiful specimens with generous flowering. If your soil is poor, rather dry, even rocky, or even slightly chalky, you can still benefit from hardy perennials (they withstand temperatures below -15°C (5°F)), which require no maintenance and promise to enliven the garden with visits from butterflies. These succulents are easy to grow and have flowers and foliage in various shades that can create multiple palettes, whether in flower beds or containers. However, you can still grow them in rich, moist, and heavy substrate. They will acclimatise without any problems if you take care to add gravel. They should not be subjected to excess moisture in winter.

Sedum telephium 'Double Martini' has a rounded bushy clump spreading over 45cm (18in) in width, composed of burgundy stems that rise up to 40cm (16in) in height. They bear oval, thick, and flat leaves, which are arranged alternately and are sessile (without petioles). This deciduous foliage has an olive-green colour. Its long-lasting flowering, in burgundy pink, is ideal for creating both fresh and dried bouquets. Its beautiful dense, bulging, almost flat-topped inflorescences are made up of multiple small star-shaped flowers, which are highly prized by insects that continue to pollinate them.

The unique colours of this sedum are perfect for creating unique compositions of light and contrast. Dense and dark, it highlights neighbours with light reflections or completes the palette of pinks and reds. It pairs well with straw-coloured grasses and achilleas. Being of intermediate size, it thrives at the front of beds alongside its cousins of all sizes, and blends in among small summer plants.